Acquisition and Generalization of the Use of Deictic Verbs in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle to acquire deictic verbs. This study examined whether stimulus generalization to other deictic verbs could be established through the acquisition of the verbs “come/go” in a child with ASD. We set up multiple scenes in which an actor presented lines involving “come/go” with deictic gestures, including moving the upper body forward or backward, and the participating child replied with “come/go.” While performing the role, the actor sat face-to-face or side-by-side with the participant. In the intervention phase, the verbal expressions involving “come/go” and body movements based on actual directions were shaped using prompt and fading procedures. The performance of the usage of “come/go” improved in relation to the baseline phase. In addition, the performance of all deictic verbs evidently improved in the post-comprehension test relative to the pre-comprehension test. These findings have implications for training children with ASD in the use of deictic verbs.